


Sick

by barricadegirl



Series: Barricade Babies AU [3]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, let's say from before they all moved in together, this is an early one, yeah this goes with adele's stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 21:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadegirl/pseuds/barricadegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicole is sick and her friend, Jehan, feels that he should take care of her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick

Nicole groans as she hears the door to the apartment open and then hisses at the pain in her throat. She’s stuck in bed with a sore throat, stuffy nose, headache—all the signs of a bad cold. Mostly she’s miserable because her older brother had insisted that she stay in bed instead of going with him to Enjolras’s house where everyone was hanging out. He had told her that he would stay home with her, but she’d insisted that he go. She didn’t want to spread her misery around.  
“I’m home, Nicole,” her brother calls out in a sing-song voice. “Did you miss me?” He walks into her room and sits down on the bed beside of her and checks to make sure she had enough tissues.  
“Terribly,” she says as loudly as her sore throat will let her. “I had to go get another soda out of the fridge myself.”  
“Oh, you poor thing. Well, Doctor Joly,” he says teasingly, “told me to give you some Advil Cold & Sinus and see if that helps. He said he would have come here to check on you himself, but he was afraid that you would be contagious.”  
Nicole laughs out loud at that. She remembers being so confused when she met Joly. She still isn’t sure how anyone who was training to be a doctor could be so adamant about avoiding sick people.  
“I did bring you a visitor though.” Nicole sits up, intrigued, and her brother chuckles. “Actually, I didn’t really bring him. He insisted on coming to see how you are.”  
Nicole smiles shyly and asks, “Is it…?” From the way her eyes light up, her brother knows that she has figured out the identity of her visitor. Jean Prouvaire appears in the doorway of Nicole’s room at that moment.  
“Hey, your brother said you were sick, so I thought maybe you could use some company. I hope you don’t mind me coming; if you want me to, I’ll leave, but…” Jehan says, suddenly afraid that maybe she doesn’t want him there.  
“No, please stay!” she cuts him off, grimacing at how much it hurt her throat to talk. “I would love for you to stay. I can’t talk much, but I’ll try. That is, if you don’t mind being around me when I’m sick and like…this,” she adds, gesturing to her situation. Jehan takes a moment to observe her. She is dressed in baggy sweatpants and a V-neck t-shirt with their university’s logo on it. Her hair is pulled back in a braid and she’s wearing her large glasses. Her bedside table holds a box of tissues, a Coke, and a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets. She’s curled up in a blanket, leaning against her pillows, and cuddling a stuffed polar bear to her chest. Though she’s not wearing any makeup and her nose is red and her hair is messy, he thinks she looks adorable.  
Combeferre stands up and kisses Nicole on the forehead. “I’ve got some work to do now. Will you take care of her, Jehan?” he asks his friend as he walks out the door. Jehan nods and walks into Nicole’s room slowly. She scoots over on the bed, hoping that he’ll get the hint. Thankfully, he does and he sits down on the bed next to her, though a bit stiffly.  
“How are you feeling?” he asks her sympathetically.  
“Not great. My throat hurts and my nose is—“ she pauses to blow her nose and throw the tissue in her trash can. “—horrible. And I’m just so tired.” She’s grateful that he doesn’t cringe at her nose-blowing.  
“How about I go grab a DVD and we watch a movie? That way you don’t have to worry about talking and hurting your throat. And maybe you can get some sleep,” he suggests and she nods happily. He touches her arm briefly in a reassuring manner, before walking out of the room. He returns a few minutes later with two DVDs in hand. “Sense and Sensibility or Emma?” he asks.  
She grins and answers, “Emma. Definitely.” He puts the DVD into her TV, closes her blinds, smooths her blanket, and then presses play on the remote. She smiles sweetly at him; the way he’s trying to take care of her is incredibly endearing. He settles back down on the bed next to her. She carefully arranges her blanket so that it’s spread over both of them and gathers her polar bear in her arms and cuddles into his side. He’s surprised for a minute, but he recovers quickly and wraps one arm around her.  
As the opening credits play, she suddenly lifts her head off of his shoulder to face him. “Thank you. For coming to be with me. I know this isn’t ideal and you don’t have to do this so…just thank you.” Then she sighs and puts her head back down and she can’t help but think about how right this feels.  
He smiles down at her and tries to figure out how to express his feelings. “You’re welcome. But…I don’t mind at all. I…I want to be here. I just wish I could do more to help you feel better.”  
“You’re already helping,” she insists. And it’s true, because ever since he arrived, she hasn’t noticed how sore her throat is or how badly her head hurts. She snuggles into his side again and turns her attention to the movie.  
He rubs her arms where his hand is resting gently until he notices that she’s fallen asleep. He glances towards her open doorway quickly and then carefully presses a kiss to the top of her head, light enough that he doesn’t risk waking her. Then he settles down to watch the movie until she wakes up.


End file.
